one, we are not opposed to these guys having successful business within the building. the problem is that although there are a number of businesses within the building, for example there is a lot of talk about the movie theater it is a separate structure and construction and has nothing to do with our building. the portion of building that houses the condos is very old and it has been retrofit to tie all of the columns to the floors and it is like one of those telephone games that you played as a kid with the paper cup and a string, it is going to be hard for these guys to pull this off. i would like them to succeed. i just don't feel in all good conscious that i can agree to the notion that we can start playing music until they have actually completed the measures that they need to put in place and we have successfully had a sound test and so far they have

failed their sound test, i want them to be there, i am delighted to be able to go down and get a drink and their business and listen to some music, it is one elevator floor down from my place, that would be nice. but, i mean that is sort of the position that we have to have, and once again, i am representing the home owners and for some of them it is completely untenantable. >> thank you very much. >> commissioners, my name is raberta drink and i am a music an in the bay area and i depend on music to make a living. musicians mean a great things to survive and the razz room is one of the greatest that the city of san francisco has ever had. the acoustics and it is all part of the experience that rory and robert are expert at it. they hire wonderful people and create a classy beautiful space in which everyone can enjoy the

evening of the best music. they book such incredible performances from around the globe and those performers often need local musician and hire us to accompany them. they also book a lot of local talent and i can't even begin to express my gratitude toward them for giving so many local performers a chance to shine. and these are well-paid positions for the musicians and the exposure for an up scale venue is priceless. all of this is good for the musicians, the economy, great for the audience and for the community of san francisco in general. the razz room has also supported many benefits for a variety of causes in the bay area, it is a powerful, positive force in the community. and the down turn in the economy has taken its toll on all of us in the entertainment industry. and i am hoping that they can resolve these issues so that rory and robert could continue to be successful in their small business, which means the world

to all of us. we need them. thank you. >> thank you, very much. next? >> madam commissioner, commission, my name is shelly tatum, and i am here to speak on behalf of live at the razz. i have been working with them for about the last three years. prior to working with them, i had the opportunity to work with the show room and tommy ts. and i consulted both of them and i heard one speaker say that the others had... they think had sound issues and tommy gs wanted to do live and they eventually shut down the operation when in fact i think that with the show room, it was just bad management. they did have sound problems,

they were tommy ts it was a comedy show and he did, he may have done a live show once or twice, but tommy, just didn't get the support that he got from the pleasanton tommy ts. i will say this about robert and rory, is that i with watched them over the last three years, and i will say that this is the first time that i have seen the people holding the lease go through the measures of sound proofing the facility to make sure that it did not interfere with the residents who reside upstairs. and it is only right that they sound proof it, then i think that they should be given an opportunity to see if it works. and i think that it would be great to consider them for a

temporary permit. thank you. >> thank you, next? >> good evening, everyone up here on the slide panel, this is my first time addressing such an organization, my name is michael cooper and i am the lead and her founder of the group con function, we hold about four, gold records in the one good platinum. and i have had the pleasure of three concerts playing in the razz room. and i don't have a lot to say, except for i have had... it was a wonderful experience. this fine city of san francisco would be a treasure to have the razz room or live at the razz room remain within the city limits. i'm looking forward to playing the base, and i understand that tonight i have gotten an education on the sound restrictions and the problems and i am sure that we all know

my band is going to rock the house. so, i really want them to do the best that they can. i want you guys to give them a chance and let them play it and do the sound proofing and make this another great san francisco landmark in this great and wonderful city. thank you very, very much. >> thank you very much and thank you for speaking to us. i love confunction. >> thank you. >> personally. >> commissioners, my name is durf butler and i also love confunction and i did not know that was michael cooper. >> he will be signing autographs at the end of the commission hearing. >> no need because i enjoy him when i go to the razz room that is why i am here it was kind of interesting that he was before me. because my point is i don't know the owners, i only know that i have... this venue has been one of the venues that play the music that i enjoy and you don't see it much in san

francisco. so i came out when i seen that they were going to be on the entertainment commission before you guys, just to say that i am supporting the group. i never met the owners or seen them before. but the music, that they provide at the venue, some of the music is music that is dear to my heart that i grew up with and i enjoy it dramatically and you can't find it in san francisco. so i hope that they have been in business for a long time and so they, you know, they have been very responsible business people to given the opportunity, i would think that they would be able to come with some intelligent and appropriate solution to resolve this. i think that it is important that they are not burdened with the past operators and issues that are plagued with this particular space, but given the fair opportunity to operate and make the changes that will only be successful for not only the city, but specifically for the property eners and the tenants in that building that obviously

critical and so i am here to support what they are doing and ask the commission to allow them a conditional use. because that is what i heard by the city and hopefully see some of you all have the confunction event in the near future, have a great evening. thank you. >> thank you very much. next? >> hello, my name is kelley jefferson and i am executive director of the san francisco committee, and it is an annual cultural event and i would like to say that the management staff of the razz are very supportive and we have exchanged comedian and it allows some of the younger, newer, entertainers, to perform. and it is a wonderful relationship. and it is interesting that our earlier we were talking about another facility here in the city and that a phrase

gendrefication came up. >> it used to be called the harlem of the west and there were a lot of african american owned establishments and there are no longer there. it is what it is. and this is a facility that continues to play wonful african american muse kick and continues to have the african american comedians and a facility that allows the community to participate and be patrons. so, we whole heartedly support the mission to allow it to be retrofitted to take care of the problems and we wholeheartedly support this effort and please pass it. this is a facility that is conducive to the entertainment of african americans, and we are losing tremendously here in

the city. one more loss will be a tremendous loss to our community, so please. >> thank you very much >> next? >> good evening, commissioners, my name is lavine king and i work in the mental health field and i am here to support, and i am excited about hearing michael cooper and i think that for a senior, it is great because we have someplace to go, we don't feel afraid. there is elevator. and this is just, well wonderful setting and i have been in that setting before. so it seems like the group of very intelligent, people who are willing to bring this to a resolution and thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next? >> hello. my name is veronica clauss and i am glad to be here to talk to you for just a minute and

support the razz room. i have been working with robert and rory for about three or four years or something like that performing at the razz room and it is one of the very few venues in this city especially of you know around 200 audience-member sort of size. that is available to local people, as well as touring acts and bigger names. but to have a local singer and musician, to have a venue like the razz room, that is always really quality sound, quality presentation, you know, available to local performers, as well as other acts, is invaluable and robert and rory have been extremely good to work with. for me and we have had great times. and i just hope that the sound issues can be cleared up and something that we can work out

because it would be a horrible, horrible loss if this venue can't continue. thank you. >> thank you. >> and i love your buddy there. >> hello, my name is donna sasha and i have been in the city for 23 years and loved it. i am talking tonight with the new information that i have heard that there are significant obstacles in the way of this venue continuing. but i am also hearing there is a way to make it work and one night without the razz room is going to be a great loss not just one month, but one night would be a great loss. vy known robert and rory for some time back to when they were running the plush room and the razz room in mico and 1000 van nes s. the obstacles while significant are addressable and i am convinced that these two guys want to address them. i am convinced that they

provided the city with something that is unique and significant and they have introduced us to major performers in a quality environment and comedians and singer and instrumentalist and they want to bring the people to the city and provide two of these audiences significant, really world class entertainment. i believe that they want to do the right thing. i do believe that they want to respect their neighbors and want to play by the rules and let's try to find a way to do that within the confines of the sounds or whatever the complaints are and i have worked with them because of the last ten years they have enabled me to do some holiday shows and they have helped me raise tens of thousands of dollars for the aids emergency fund and that is just another component that room makes available. let's find a way to make them play by the rules let's not prevent it from enriching our city's night life and introducing us and supporting deserving charitable organizations, i urge you to

grant this temporary permit and let's find a way to keep the razz room. >> thank you. >> >> madam chair, everyone, tonight. my name is cathy jackson and i'm the agent, manager and wife of frank jackson who is standing here, frank jackson has been in san francisco since 1942, and he is actually one of your real live jazz fillmore jazz legends he has been honored by several mayors, including willie brown nuston and has been able to perform at the razz room and live at razz. we have known robert and rory since the plush room and then it was empire plush room. and then razz, room at hotel mico and now live at rass. i concur with everything that everyone has said before us.

they provide quality music and a variety of music. it is very rare for us to be able, especially resident, local musicians, who were very high class, performers, to be included in a venue such as theirs, as well as the higher class, or well or known legends and musicians and artists throughout the united states and overseas to be presented at the same venue. and frank and i would live there if we could because they bring in so many people. but we can't afford it. we do understand the issues with the sound and we do believe that these two people are the type of people who would want to correct that. they are obviously making effort to do so. their business is highly impacted by not being able to provide acoustic musician and music right now. and the public also which they have nurtured as well as all of the artists. there is a need and demand, i

don't know if you are familiar with this, but, jazz does not get very much write up in this city of san francisco. you don't see it very often. in our newspapers. this gentleman standing in front of you is 87 years old. he has been performing in this area for 60 years. do you find his name in the newspaper? >> no. robert and rory have been able to interact with our editors in the area and they do get press and public out to read about people that they are presenting, and not only people who are already know, but also people who were still here doing their craft, and continuing to. so, again, i want to just say that we are here to support them, we understand that the residents have concerns too, but we do believe that they will be able to fulfill those and it would be good for them to have a temporary permit for

the time being, for acoustic, thank you. >> and i second donna sasha's proposal. >> first of all, i would like to say that she said everything that i was going to say. except for a few things. they are very wonderful people to work for. the audience is filled with everybody, different people from everywhere. and being a people lover that just goes right up to here for me. i have been playing the piano and i am also a vocalist and i agree with everything about the sound, and before i came here. i know them and i see them, pretty regular and they told us that they had what they were going to have to do with fixing the sound and i do believe that

100 percent. and thank you for letting me be here. >> thank you, very much. >> next? >> good evening, my name is denise peririe is i am a vocalist living in the san francisco bay area and i travel all over the world and there is no better world classroom that has been created than the razz room, and i was their opening night and i had the good fortune to sit with frank jackson, on the opening night. and i was also taken behind the scenes by robert who showed me a lot of the wonderful things that they were doing. and through the kitchen and to the dressing rooms and so these

are people that are already trying to make this pass as perfect as it can be, but time also i know that they have booked acts for as you said, more than a year and a half, previously, so, it is very difficult for them at this point to just stop entertaining it and i think that the compromise of having acoustic entertainment while they are working on what i know will be a very fine sound-proof room and it should be granted to allow them to continue to present san francisco with the quality of artists that they have been doing so in the past. so, i hope that that question will be granted. thank you. >> thank you. >> i see the end of the line coming up.

>> maybe not. >> hi, thank you, for hearing me today. i'm terry rosenstock and i work with senior groups who are out northern california senior centers plus 55 community and i provide matinee entertainment opportunity or events for them and rorry and robert have been very gracious in opening up the razz room for me during the afternoons and bringing in senior groups for luncheon shows and it is very challenging in san francisco to find venues that can accommodate seniors. the new live at the razz has an elevator and they have it set up that the seniors can get in and out easily. and it is a great loss to the senior community, not having that venue available for lunchtime matinees, so i hope that you grant the conditional use and let them condition with their efforts to make it you know, sound proof and do

everything that they need to do thank you. >> thank you. >> >> hello, my name is shirley moore. >> how are you? >> i have come to support the razz room. i have in the had the opportunity to meet the owners as of yet. i have performed in the razz room. i am looking forward to perform thering and a lot of my things have and hawkings has been there and nikki has been there and they have a wonderful reputation and it is just, i do have, and i understand the residents situation. and i really do. but, as san francisco being a metropolitan city and new york and chicago and all of the metropolitan cities and it is all of the wonderful singers and here in the northern

california, area not just california, everything is not in la. we have good singers here, we can't find them, even though i travel and you know what i do more often. and all of that. we are going together but i still work in new york with martha and she would love to the come to the razz room and bring her band or put it together because this is home for her. and this is home for me. you know i don't want to go to europe and 15 or 16 years and be appreciated and be there because i can't find work in my own backyard. i want to work here at home, and if you would consider and think about it, and vote it in, and what i have heard, is that the owners is willing to come up with the funds or have the funds and do the reconstruction or whatever they need to do to get the permit to do what they need to do. so, the musicians here and me and others, can't find that much work, i might be speaking

for a lot of people but i am speaking for me. is not to have a lot of work between oakland and san francisco. so that we can (inaudible) for places like the razz room. i don't want to do the children's circuit i have done it. come on, i am not going to do the dump, i have did the dump and all of that. you know what i am saying? i am going into a whole another culture for me. for 2013. along with other things that i do and if you could consider that, it would be so much appreciated and i know by mr. shelly and mr. robert and i know that they would appreciate so much in the bay area musician and singers in this bay area that appreciate real good music would appreciate it, thank you. >> thank you. >> i just want to stop here for a second and just to say that i am incredibly inpressed of the voices of veronica clauss and sharlene moore are here the

people that i worked with, sharlene and donna and veronica who are great vocalists and i am humbled by your presence and i just wanted to say that. >> good evening, dear commission, i am don berger and many of you know me. i am one of the few elders of the gay community in san francisco and i thought that a voice from the audience should be made and here i am. i have been enjoying the fellas since they had the plush room at the hotel york and ever since we lost the old macanbo as you may remember on polk street, this has been the only venue where we could see the famous singers many of whom i enjoy and i don't care for the rock and roll and the jazz. but i like the old standards and i am an old fogy as they said, where else can we see these people unless you are in new york or la.

and at these prices i can't go any more. so it is a wonderful opportunity for me to be here to represent them and i love the club. and i love bringing people there when i can. and i just want to represent them and say, that i am a voice of the audience and please, pass the necessary permit that they would really need and i thank you. >> thank you. >> next? >> hello commission, and thanks for the time here. my name is bruce pen and i am on the home owner's association of the marcee representing the owners and >> talk into the microphone. >> that is i am trying in the cast of talented in the room and we certainly don't want to stop that from happening and from flourishing, but this is in our home. right? this venue was a comedy club

that got passed down to tommy keys and michelle over to the razz room without the proper permits. i think that ultimately no matter what, a test has to be passed, the sound test has to be passed so that it is not disrupting the residents of the building. they have heard this from two floors up and not near the staircase and there are children that have woken up. and i know that ian and katie have been woken up and they had to leave the residents so they could actually sleep for a week and i appreciate what you have done with the presentation and i am in sales myself. i appreciate the production, but ultimately have you to pass a test, right? and that is ultimately what this comes down to, so you know we love to see it be successful, i love to go down stairs and listen to the music and listen to these great singers, but again, just the residents can't be disrupted the way that they have done. thank you for your time.

thank you very much. next? >> good evening, commissioners, i wish that i could sing. my name is karol tatum and i have lived in san francisco since 1955, in fact i am the mother of shelly tatum and i am a grandmother and a great grandmother and i am one of those seniors who likes to go out and have a little fun and do a little dance and get down tonight. and i have had the opportunity of doing that at the razz room. i saw jerry butler and i saw bela rese and denise and i have seen folks and i have seen people and i have had the windows put in my house, to try to block the noise. and it did not work the first time. and so, work with the contractor who did the work, and we were able to work it out. and i am hoping that this same

thing can happen so that somebody like me, can go out and be safe, with my peers and my contemporaries and have music, and comedy, live, at the razz room. so, i hope that you will take every possible thing into consideration. so that this can happen. thank you. >> thank you, very much. >> next? two left. >> >> hi, good evening, commissioners, my name is resario savanas and i love great music and the razz room and it is a great place to hear great acts and i hope that they will work things out with the noise issues and i hope that you will grant them this permit. because i want to come and hear some great music and the great act that they put on. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners.

i just listened to the words of one of the speakers prior to me who said that they asked him in the commission and said that they did not pass a test and need to pass a test. what i am asking right now is if the razz room people are asking for an acoustic granting of one day permits to let them take the love train real slow and easy as they work towards sound proofing the venue, if we could have the sound inspector come and take the test on an acoustic artist and it should come with a possible number of ambient level of such and if that does not cause the adverse to the neighbors above but grant it based on the evaluation of what the entertainment is being offered.